Boca Officer Arrested In Battery

Scalper Says Cop Wanted Tickets For Heat Game

May 23, 1997|By C. RON ALLEN Staff Writer

An off-duty Boca Raton police officer was arrested on Thursday after grabbing a ticket scalper, pulling him down an escalator and threatening to arrest him if he did not give up a pair Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls playoff tickets, the Sheriff's Office said.

``I'm not hurt, just mentally torn up,'' said Herzog, 20, minutes after the fracas.

McLin, a five-year employee of the Boca Raton Police Department, was stripped of his gun and badge and assigned to desk duties on Thursday.

Deputy Chief Phil Sweeting said there would be an internal investigation.

The Sheriff's Office said it would present its case to the State Attorney's Office for formal charges.

McLin did not return messages left at his home.

Herzog said he and his brother went to Ticketmaster at Town Center mall Thursday morning and bought six of the coveted $50 tickets for Saturday's game. After leaving the window, the Herzog brothers said they sold two tickets for $100 each. The game had sold out, the Sheriff's Office said.

McLin was still waiting in line at the ticket window, saw the transaction and walked over and grabbed Herzog, the two brothers said.

``He said `I'm a Boca Raton police officer, and you are under arrest for scalping,' '' Neil Herzog said. ``I said, `No way' . . . and he dragged me down the escalator.''

Once downstairs, McLin said he was only joking and then demanded that Neil Herzog give him the tickets, the Herzog brothers said.

The Sheriff's Office gave a slightly different account.

``The officer showed a badge and took the kid away from the crowd,'' sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said. ``He told him something to the effect of, sell me the tickets and you won't be in any trouble.''

Miller said deputies had not yet determined whether McLin demanded the tickets for free or offered to buy them.

Herzog said he refused to give McLin the tickets. At that point, McLin turned Herzog loose and walked to his car, Herzog said. Herzog said his brother, Adam, followed McLin and got his tag number.

By then, witnesses called the Sheriff's Office. Deputies arrived and questioned McLin, who had gone back into the mall. Several Boca Raton police officers also arrived on the scene, the Herzog brothers said.

Boca Raton police officials would not discuss the incident because of the internal investigation.

But in police records, McLin's supervisors say he is an average officer who uses sound judgment and exhibits a natural talent in police work.

``Officer McLin's decisions are sound and well thought out,'' Sgt. Thomas Curry wrote in his last evaluation. ``Ron displays a positive attitude about his work and sets a good example for his peers to follow.''

But McLin has a history of grabbing people, records show.

In May 1994, McLin grabbed an uncooperative man at a crime scene and told him he was coming with the officer. But McLin released the man without charging him.

McLin said he released the man because he did not want to ``stick his colleagues with the paperwork.''

``I know I should have arrested him after I grabbed him by the arm, but he started begging me to not arrest him,'' McLin wrote.

During his time with the department, he has received 11 letters of appreciation from residents.